The Internet is full of interesting websites, and some of them are so interesting and useful that it is no wonder people want to save them for posterity. Bookmark managers, notes apps, and read-later services like Pocket are great for collecting and organizing links, but the fact is that there are too many links on too many platforms and apps to easily keep track of.
A former twitter engineer, Joe Fabisevich, has created an application called Plinky which aims to address that problem with a new approach that prioritizes personalization.
Available for Apple Silicon iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Plinky lets you save links to web pages, apps, videos, images, and even app stores; label them carefully; and organize them in different folders. You can customize these labels and folders, and even how a link appears in the app. Additionally, you can search for links and pin them for easy access.
You can easily set the app as a favorite in the Share menu to quickly share a link from anywhere: within browsers, other apps, messaging. It's easy to save a link with just a few taps and I also liked the save animation.
Fabisevich told TechCrunch that he was inspired to create the app because he used to send his fiancée a ton of links: tweets, articles, videos and memes. While she loved the gesture, she distracted him and asked him to save some for later. That's when Fabisevich started working at Plinky.
The founder believes that the spirit of a link saving app should be to make the process easier. He noted that apps like Pocket and Instapaper are great for reading, but the links often contain videos and photos, and those apps may not be suitable for consuming multimedia.
Fabisevich has also created extensions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, as well as integrations with RSS reader Unread, iOS Shortcuts, and Zapier. There is also an open API that third-party developers can use to create integration for more surfaces.
The free version allows you to save up to 50 links and create up to five tags and three folders. To remove these limits, you can pay $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Or you can purchase lifetime access for $159.99.
In terms of features, Plinky falls short compared to Raindrop, a popular bookmarking app, which also offers apps for Android, Mac (Intel), and Windows. Raindrop offers more integrations and its free tier allows you to save any number of links and bookmarks. However, Raindrop doesn't work well with YouTube and App Store links, as they open through your browser within the app instead of redirecting you to the native app, a problem that Plinky solves better.
Plinky offers a much better solution than saving links through a browser's bookmark manager, since it's easier to organize links in the app with folders and tags.
Fabisevich said he had used Raindrop, but wanted to create a solution that anyone could use. “In his own words, Raindrop is 'designed for creatives, built for programmers,'” he said. “While I love being both, it's a very small segment of people who would benefit from having a universal inbox for their links.”
“From the first time you save a link in Plinky, you can see that the application does its job and does not interfere. “It’s a different approach than Raindrop, which requires thinking about categorization from the beginning.”
What's next for Plinky?
In the coming months, Fabisevich wants to create better organizational and customization features for the app.
You want to make it easier for people to import links from existing services like GoodLinks, Raindrop, and Pocket, where they may already have a library of bookmarks and snippets.
The founder also intends to add secure folders to store sensitive links, an in-app reading experience, and the ability to add reminders for links you might want to read later. He also wants to create a native Mac app, since the current one is just an iPad app that is only compatible with MacOS devices that run on Apple's own chips.
I liked that the support section of the app has a list of upcoming features that users can vote on. The features with the most votes will be created first.
In the long term, Fabisevich wants to create more personalized workflows for saving and prioritizing links, along with a better search experience.
